Blind Strawberries
by Draye
Summary: Ichigo had the dream of being a powerful Ninja, but when an atack on her village leaves her blind she must leave her home and head for Konoha.Will she become a great ninja , or will she spell out doom for herself and Kakashi kakashiOC
1. Chapter 1

"Ichigo, be a dear and get me the flour."

"Okay mother." Said the little girl, she jumped down from the stool she had been sitting on at the kitchen counter and went to the pantry to fish out the bag of flour.

'Ah, it's huge!' Ichigo thought as she stared at it lying on the floor of the pantry. The bag was almost as tall as her. She grabbed it and started to drag it back into the kitchen.

Ichigo loved when her mother would have time off from her job as a teacher at the village academy and would bake cookies with her. Lost in day dream Ichigo didn't notice where she was walking. Before she knew it she had fallen to the ground and was covered in flour. Tears started to form in the six year old's orange eyes.

"Oh Ichigo!"

"I'm sorry mother!"

"Don't be, don't be." Her mother brushed the white powder out of Ichigo's red violet hair.

"Why don't you go play outside, I'll come get you when the cookies are done."

"Okay mother." Ichigo picked her self up and hoped through the door.

It was a beautiful day in her village. The sun was out and the flowers were blooming in the family's garden.

'Spring is the best season in the Cloud village.' Ichigo thought as she skipped down the street. As she entered the main section of the town an unfamiliar smell hit her nose. She kept walking on, thinking it was just something from on of the food stalls, but as she entered the town square she was proven wrong.

There was blood flooding the streets. Women, children and shinobi lay on the ground dead. People were still fighting, the attacker seeming to be from the Village hidden in the mist.

Ichigo's body froze, she couldn't move. She felt some one lift her up.

"What have we here, a little girl?"

Ichigo started to whimper as she saw the Kunai the foreign ninja was holding.

"You're lucky I don't like killing children, but I can't leave you unharmed, now can I?"

All Ichigo could do was whimper, she had never felt so scared. Then it happened. The ninja slashed the knife across her face. Her eyes burned like hell and the world went completely black, even before she had lost consciousness.

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Ichigo opened her eyes, but yet the world remained black.

"Mother?"

She felt arms wrap around her and her mother's scent filled her nostrils.

"Mother, why is it so black?"

Ichigo heard her mother start to weep.

"Your eyes, they were damaged."

"Am I blind?"

"Yes, Oh my little strawberry!"

She wrapped her arms tighter around her daughter.

"Are my eyes different?"

"They're white dear. And…and you have what the doctors say will become scars in the corner of your eyes."

"When can I go back to school?"

"Never, you can't become a shinobi now that you're blind! You'd get your self killed!"

Ichigo felt tears fall down her cheeks.

"But I have to become a ninja; I promised father before he died! I can't break that promise!"

"You have to, I won't let you study! I already lost your father, I won't loose you too!"

Ichigo felt her mother's arms retreat and she heard her mother's foot steps as she walked towards the door.

"You can come home in a few days when you're fully recovered." Her mother said coldly

The sound of the door slamming echoed on the room. Ichigo brought her knees up to her chest, and silently cried as she begged her father for forgiveness.

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Ichigo swung her legs as her sat on the porch. She stared at nothing-ness, jumping slightly when unseen people would greet her as the made their way past her house. She had been home for a week now, and was miserable.

"Ichigo, I have lunch ready. Would you like it here or inside?"

"Here is fine mother."

She heard her mother set the plate down next to her as walk away. Ichigo sighed and reached out for the plate. Her fingers burned as they went straight into a bowl of ramen.

"OOOO, hot!" Ichigo cried as she pulled her hand out quickly.

"Eheh heh heh heh!"

"Who's there?" Ichigo screamed at the unseen laughing person.

"Oh me? I'm just a traveler who was walking by. That was very funny by the way."

"No it wasn't." Ichigo growled as she nursed her hot fingers.

"Do you need help?"

Ichigo was very confused, until she herd a plop come from next to her.

"Do you need help?" The person asked again, since the person was closer Ichigo could tell the voice was a woman's.

"Help with what?"

There was a sigh and the sound of someone picking up her bowl.

"Open."

"Open what?"

"Your mouth you idiot, what do you think I'm going to put food in, your ear?"

Ichigo growled but opened her mouth. A few hot noodles were placed in and Ichigo started to chew them.

"So kid, why aren't you in school?"

"My mother won't let me go to the academy."

"And why the hell not?"

"I'm blind."

"So? The most powerful shinobi have hardships they must over come, they all just had to find the right teachers."

"No one will teach me. My mother made sure of it. She works at the academy."

The woman sighed.

"Do you really wan to be a shinobi?"

"Yes, I promised my father I would become one when he died."

"Fine, I didn't want to but I guess it can't be helped."

Ichigo contorted her face into a look of confusion. Upon seeing this, the woman laughed.

"What I'm saying is that I'll teach you. I'm a very powerful shinobi you know."

"My mother won't allow it."

"Pack a bag with your most prized possessions; meet me here once your mother falls asleep. Then we'll leave for my Village, where I have the means to train you."

Ichigo smiled the biggest smile her face could hold! But the smile was short lived as the door opened.

"Oh Ichigo, you didn't eat any of your lunch."

"I'm sorry mother."

"No, don't be. Come inside and you can finish it at the table."

Ichigo's mother picked up the bowl and took Ichigo's hand. The two walked inside, both of then happy for the first time that week.

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Ichigo ransacked her room trying to find a bag. It was hard to find since she couldn't see it. She grabbed another object, and felt around for some sort of opening. Sadly this wasn't a bag either.

Where had she put the bag she used for school? It had some kunai in it, and a text book which she could leave at home. Last she remembered it was at the foot of her bed, but where was the foot of her bed?

Ichigo stumbled around her room; that was until she tripped. As she went to see what had caused her to fall she found her foot stuck in the shoulder strap of her back pack.

'_Well at least I've found it.'_ Ichigo sighed as she searched for the zipper. Once she had opened the bag she stuffed a few changes of cloths into it and her favorite stuffed animal, a fuzzy bat. Ichigo sighed, strange twist of fate, now she was as blind as her favorite nocturnal animals. She zippered up the bag, and pulled it onto her back.

Taking silent, careful steps Ichigo crept to the door. Running her hand along the wall, making sure she didn't bump into anything on her way to the door. The hand in front of her hit a wall and she felt around for the cool metal surface of the door knob. Once she did she turned it and pushed the door open. The cool night air hit her face.

"Hey kid." She herd the woman from that afternoon whisper. Ichigo closed the door behind her.

"You all ready to go?"

"Yes." Ichigo felt arms pick her up and lifter her onto what she guessed were the woman's shoulders.

"It'll be faster this way."  
Ichigo nodded and started to say when the person started to move.

"So kid, what's your name?"

"Ritoru Ichigo, you?"

"Just call me teacher, or master, what ever you feel like."

"Okay Teacher, so where are we going?"

"To Konoha!"

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**And there you have it! So what will happen to Ichigo once she gets to Konoha?**

**In truth I don't know yet. This fic is all plot bunnies; I hate those things some times.**

**This is my second Naruto fic, but still please be nice. **

**R&R&R&R&R&R&R&R!!!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just to warn you, most of these chapters will be dialogue, since Ichigo can't see things and it makes my life easier too. **

**I don't mind if you complain, but I warned you.**

"Teacher, how many days until we reach Konoha?"

"About three, maybe four."

"That's a long time."

"Well, I'm going to start your training right now; you won't even notice time fly!"

"Really!"

"Yep, first lesson, chakra sensing."

She stopped the young girl, and lightly pushed her so she fell onto her butt. Ichigo herd the woman leaf through her bag.

"Open your hands." Teacher said once she stopped looking. Ichigo did as she was told, and felt two stones being placed in her hand.

"These stones are designed to practice chakra control, but forget that. I'm going to put some of my chakra into the stone. When you feel something about one of the stones change, tell me."

"Okay teacher."

The two fell silent. Ichigo rubbed the stone's smooth surface. All of a sudden the surface of one of the stones started to tingle.

"The one in my right hand."

"Good."

The tingling in Ichigo's right hand stopped.

"Now give me the stones."

"How?"

"Place them in my hand you idiot!"

"But, I can't see your hand."

"Sense my chakra in my hand."

Ichigo stared at the direction of her Sensei's voice. All of a sudden, a small green glow started to shine.

"Green!" Ichigo shouted, jumping a little. "I saw green!"

"Green eh? Well I am a med ninja. Wait, you saw my chakra!"

"I suppose."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have a blood limit?"

"A what?"

Teacher slapped her face with her hand.

"Never mind. Listen, you can see chakra, which means that you just need to learn to heighten your senses, not heighten your detection skills."

"Which is harder?"

"I have no clue."

Ichigo paused.

"You're a bad teacher." Ichigo muttered.

"Shut up kid."

Ichigo giggled and ran over to where she thought her teacher was, since she had started to emit a dull green light. Ichigo found what she thought to be a leg and hugged it.

"Wow, you found me."

"Yah, did you leak chakra for me to see?"

"Yep, you're pretty smart, for a brat."

The teacher picked up Ichigo and once again placed the child onto her shoulders.

"To train that, I'll leak chakra for you to see, but slowly leak less and less. If we stop in a town on our way to Konoha I'll have you stare and try to see other's chakra too."

"Okay, sounds hard though."

"Hey, you are lucky you can see chakra at all, most people cant."

Ichigo buried her head into her teacher's hair. By its feel Ichigo could tell it was straight and soft.

"What color is your hair?"

"Hmm, oh, it's light brown."

"Is Konoha nice?"

"Yep, I guess. Though it might be a hell hole know that my team mate was named the next Hokage."

"Really?"

"Yah, he has students your age, all a bunch of losers. Though, one of them became a chunnin at age six."

Ichigo smiled and fell asleep in her teacher's hair.

The next few days the two trained as soon as they woke up, to when they went to sleep. Ichigo was indeed made to see her teachers chakra as its intensity dropped through out the day. By the time they reached the point where they were a day from Konoha teacher was hardly admitting any chakra at all.

The sudden change in chakra levels did cause Ichigo's charka sight to rapidly increase. In the middle of the night she once woke to see the brown blob of a squirrel's chakra. She screamed loud enough to wake her teacher, and to cause a few brown chakra birds to fly into the air.

The two stopped at a bath house when they were only a day from Konoha. Ichigo was surprised to see the people shaped Chakra's. There were a few other green chakra forms, but Ichigo could somehow tell which one was her teacher, and which weren't. Though, she did mistake a man for her teacher when she first saw a green chakra and didn't bother to look closer.

The only thing that Ichigo had trouble with was seeing inanimate objects. In the forest she would walk into trees. In towns she walked into walls. It was a surprise her nose wasn't broken, but her butt did hurt.

And so as the two walked into Konoha's gates, Ichigo had to make a lasting impression on the guards on duty that day, and walked straight into one of the big poles holding up the gate.

"Ummmm, are you alright?" One of the guards asked the little girl lying in the dirt.

"She's fine." said a woman who helped said girl up.

"Oh, welcome back to Konoha Yanagi-Sama."

"Thank you; do you know where I can find Arashi?" Teacher, now know to be named Yanagi asked, hoisting Ichigo onto her shoulders.

"I think he's in training field 18."

"Thanks."

Yanagi stared to walk away, Ichigo waved good bye to the two confused feeling blue chakra blobs.

The two continued down the street. Ichigo could tell that not after long they had walked into the center of the village. There were a bunch of chakras, blue ones, green ones, white ones, orange ones, yellow ones. The yellow ones were normal, non shinobi citizens, the blue were normal ninja, while the green were med Nins. But the white and orange colors were new. The voices were so loud, loud enough that Ichigo had to put her fingers in her ears. Yanagi laughed at her student.

"Before we go and bother Arashi, how about some ramen?"

"Ahh is that all you eat teacher."

"Blame Arashi, you eat it a lot when you hang around with him."

"Fine, let's get brain-rot noodles."

"That's the spirit!"

Yanagi started to walk fast, after a while she took a turn and ducked so Ichigo wouldn't hit her head on the door.

"Yanagi-Chan!"

"Oh, hello Arashi, can you not sound like an idiot for two seconds?"

"That's mean Yanagi!"

Ichigo sighed and pulled on her teacher's hair. Yanagi placed her on the ground.

"Sorry Ichigo, we have to eat some where else, the place is full. Why it only has four stools I'll never know."

Arashi looked over at his three students, who he agreed to take to lunch. Then he looked at the little girl.

"Oh Yanagi, I didn't know you had a student, what's your name?"

"I'm Ichigo, and you wouldn't know, since I've only been her student for five days. Who are they?" Ichigo asked, pointing to Kakshi, Obito and Rin, who were now staring at Ichigo.

"I'm Kakshi, this is Rin, and this idiot is Obito."

Yanagi looked at Ichigo. Her face looked confused. Arashi looked confused as well. Ichigo turned to her teacher.

"Umm, who is who? All I see is an orange on the right, a green on the left, and a blue in the middle."

"The orange is Obito; the green is Rin, while the blue is Kakashi."

"Why did you have to tell her, can't she see us?" Kakashi asked, trying not to laugh.

"I can't." Ichigo muttered.

"Nani?" asked Kakashi.

"I'm blind, I can't see you."

Ichigo ran over and buried her face into Yanagi's leg.

"You're teaching a blind girl shinobi ways Yanagi." Arashi asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Yes, is that wrong?"

"It's dangerous."

"So? She needs to be a ninja, she promised her father."

"So that's what it's about, you sympathize with her."

"Shut up Arashi, we're going Ichigo."

Yanagi picked up her student and carried her away in a hush, as if she was a sack of potatoes.

"What crawled up his ass and died!" Yanagi yelled at no one.

"Teacher, you're shaking me!"

"He could be more considerate! Do I take a right or left?"

"Where are we going Sensei?"

"To see the Hokage damn it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Ichigo sat in her teacher's arms in a huff. If it was one thing she hated, it was being totted around like a sack of produce.

"Teacher, can you put me down?"

"No, you walk to slow."

"Well sorry, but I don't like walking into walls."

From the sound of it, Ichigo knew a gate was opening, and then they were walking up stair. With every bouncy step Ichigo swung around.

After a while Yanagi angrily threw open a door.

"Oh, Yanagi-Chan!"

"Hi Hokage-sama."

From the way her teacher was talking to him, Yanagi could tell he was nice, to her at least. His chakra even had an aura of kindness.

"Who do we have here?" the man, who Ichigo now knew to be the Hokage, asked.

"This is Ichigo, my student, say hello Ichigo." Yanagi shook Ichigo a little bit to make sure she hadn't dozed off.

"Hello Hokage-sama."

"Pleased to meet you, Ichigo was it?"

"Yes sir."

Yanagi finally placed Ichigo down. She wobbled a bit, being unused to the stable ground. She even had reach out and grab onto her teacher's pant leg to stable her self.

"Ichigo, you don't seem familiar, where are you from?"

"The cloud sir."

"Are you by chance from the Ritoru clan?"

"My Father was, so I suppose I am too."

Yanagi coughed. "Why does it matter what clan she is from?"

"Well, I don't think the cloud will like that you took a member of their village from a powerful clan."

"I went with Teacher because I wanted to sir."

The Hokage stared at Ichigo, and at her white eyes.

"Have you activated your bloodline?"

"I don't have one sir, why do you say that?"

"The Ritoru clan has a blood line that resides in the eyes. When it is activated their normally orange eyes turn white. You even have the orange lines on your face."

"Lines?"

"Yes, can't you see them?"

Ichigo froze and shook her head, before burring it into Yanagi's leg.

"Why can't you."

Yanagi decided to answer for her student.

"Ichigo is blind Hokage Sama; all she can see is people's chakra."

"Oh."

"Oh? All you have to say is Oh? Where is the oh my god Yanagi, why take her under her wing if she's blind!"

Ichigo sweat dropped, it was if her teacher wanted to find reasons not to teach her.

"Well, a lot of members of the Ritoru clan have eye problems; I guess blindness is an extreme eye problem though."

"My father did wear glasses." Ichigo said happily.

Yanagi slapped her fore head.

"I am surrounded by idiots."

"Well if both Ichigo and I are idiots, then Ichigo will become a Kage like me."

Ichigo stuck her tongue out at her teacher.

"So I have your approval to teacher her?"

"Yes, why do you need it?"

"So I can rub it into Arashi's face."

The Hokage sighed. Yanagi picked up Ichigo again, much to her discontent, and walked out the door.

"Where are we going now?"

"To my house, stupid."

"You have a house?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you lived in a tree, you always would sleep in one."

Yanagi growled and shook Ichigo. Ichigo kicked her teacher in the side, but Yanagi was unfazed.

After ten minutes of roof jumping Yanagi finally stopped, much to the thanks of Ichigo's queasy stomach. There was the sound of metal hitting metal, and a click. A door squeaked as it opened.

"This," Yanagi said as she set Ichigo down "Is my humble abode. Feel free to wander while I check the place out."

Yanagi's foot steps got softer as she walked away. Ichigo decided she should look around. She took ten steps forward,

And slammed right into a wall.

Exploring the house would be a little harder then expected. Ichigo stuck her arms in front of her self like a zombie and slowly walked around the house.

She was in the kitchen, since when she opened a cabinet she found pots and pans.

The next room had a couch and a lot of scrolls in book selves.

Down the hall way was the bathroom, which Ichigo identified when she stuck her hand into the toilet.

The next room had a bed, and the last one was empty.

"Your house seems small."

"Better for you to memorize."

"Where will I sleep?"

"In the extra room."

"The empty one at the end of the hall?"

"Yep, we'll go shopping later; there isn't any food in the house any way."

Ichigo climbed onto the couch and sat down. There was a plop as Yanagi sat down beside her student.

"So, do you want to enroll in the academy?" Yanagi asked out of no where.

"No, why?"

"Because I have little money, and to get more I need to do missions. It would take way from your training if I was away and you just sat here."

"But I want you to train me, I mean, no one else will. Maybe the Hokage could watch me."

"The Hokage has his own children to worry about. Though dumping you on some one if a good idea…."

Ichigo frowned, she didn't like where this was going.

--------------------------------------------------

"So since Yanagi has a mission, Ichigo will be training with us." Arashi smiled.

"What can a blind girl do? She would only slow down our training." Kakshi groaned.

"No Kakshi, be nice, Ichigo is a lot younger than you."

"I'm 9" Ichigo growled.

"So you're our age?" Rin asked.

"Yes."

"And you are only an academy student, how dumb can you be."

"Not every one is a prodigy like you Kakshi." Obito growled.

Ichigo sweat dropped as she mentally cursed at her teacher for leaving her with them of all people.

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"Achoooo!"

Yanagi sniffed from where she sat at a bar. It was a simple devilry mission, she could take her time.

Ichigo wouldn't mind….

…..right?


	4. Chapter 4

"Ok, so how about we work on chakra control?" Arashi asked, and earned a groan from every one but Ichigo.

"How would we do that Arashi-sama?" Ichigo asked, she glared at where she heard Kakshi chuckle.

"Well, since you're new I would start you on tree climbing. The rest would do balancing techniques. So how about you get to it while I help Ichigo-Chan?"

The team groaned a 'yes sensei' as they went off. Arashi took Ichigo's hand and lead her to a tree, or what she guessed was what he was doing.

"Now Ichigo, have you ever channeled chakra before?"

Ichigo nodded slowly.

"Well I want you to channel chakra to your feet so you can walk up the tree without your hands. Now since you would have a hard time with a running start I'll just do this and you tell me when I can let go."

Arashi picked up Ichigo and swung her so she was vertical, earning a giggle from her.

"You have a cute laugh Ichigo-Chan" Arashi said, and he laughed as her cheeks turned a pale shade of pink. He pressed her feet against the bark.

"Ok Ichigo, try it."

Ichigo closed her eyes and concentrated on her feet, waiting for the familiar tingle of chakra. After a minute she felt her feet being slightly pushed away from the tree, so she lowered the amount of chakra.

"You may let go Arashi-sama." Ichigo said.

"You sure Ichigo?"

"Yes."

Arashi slowly removed his hands, and Ichigo stayed put.

"Ok, that's good Ichigo, now try and take a step."

Slowly Ichigo removed one foot from the tree and placed in above her other one. When she was sure it would stick she did the same with the other. Slowly but surely she continued up the tree. Her pace quickened as she didn't have to think about the flow to her feet any longer. Soon there was no tree to put her foot down on.

"Ok Ichigo, turn around and walk down!"

Slowly she did as she was instructed ad was amazed at how small the bright blue chakra of Arashi looked. Feeling incredibly scared she ran down the tree as fast as she could with out falling. In her flight she hit the ground and would have run past Arashi if he hadn't grabbed her shirt.

"Okay Ichigo, since you did so well on that, lets do the next step!"

Arashi picked Ichigo up and placed her on his shoulders.

"You're a lot smaller and lighter than my students. Are you sure you're 9 years old?"

"Yes, I'm sure, I'm just small."

"Well, they do say great things come in small packages!" Arashi chuckled.

After a minute Arashi put Ichigo down on the ground. She could hear the splashing of waves.

"In front of you is a lake, I want to channel enough chakra to your feet so you wont sink."

Ichigo gulped, she couldn't swim. Hoping it was a shallow pond she took a step forward. Her foot sunk only a little and she felt her toes get wet. She increased the flow of chakra and her foot rose so it was on the surface, or close to it. She took her other foot and did the same.

After that it was easy, which Ichigo found strange since chakra control was her weak point.

'Maybe it's cause my blood line awoke?' she thought as she wandered around on the lake.

"Ichigo, watch out!"

Ichigo could hardly hear Arashi as she took a step forwards and got hit by a water fall. She had been so lost in thought she hadn't noticed it.

She was forced under the water and dragged by the current. She was down there forever, until an arm came down and grabbed her shirt, pulling her up. She coughed the water out of her lungs.

"Are you okay Ichigo?" Arashi asked. All Ichigo could manage was a slight nod as she continued to cough.

"Well, not that you finished that exercise you can join the other kids. Come on." Arashi stared to walk away and Ichigo rose to her feet slowly and then ran after his bobbing chakra across the water.

After a while she saw the chakra of the other kids.

"So, who wants to spar against Ichigo?" Arashi asked. All four of the children froze, dumbfounded.

"You have got to be kidding me Sensei, she can't see, how can she defend?"

"Thank you for volunteering Kakashi!"

Ichigo and kakshi both opened their mouth wide in silent protest. But Arashi just smiled and yelled "start".

Ichigo slightly panicked. She only knew the basics, yet Kakshi surly knew more. She stared at his chakra and tried to think. He was gathering chakra at his legs, so what he going to walk up her like a tree? That was a positive no.

Kakshi moved towards her, fast. Ichigo panicked and tried to run out of the way, but he hit her full force and tackled her to the ground. Ichigo grabbed Kakashi's head and pulled his head band over his eyes. He tried to uncover his eyes but Ichigo held on tight. They squirmed and wriggled on the ground. Kakashi pried out a kunai and stabbed one of Ichigo's hands. She screeched in a high enough pitch to make Kakshi cover his ears.

Ichigo took that opportunity to knee Kakshi in the stomach, effectively knocking the air out of him. She then kneed him in the face. She heard the sound of shattering bone and smelt blood.

The smell made Ichigo freeze and she screamed, trying to get away from Kakashi. The smell reminded her so much of that day. She ran head first into Arashi's chakra and started sobbing.

No one knew what to do, but Arashi held Ichigo close and awkwardly rubbed her back. His students were tough as nails, so he never had to deal with this.

"What's wrong Ichigo?" Obit asked, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"The smell, the smell made me remember!"

"Remember what? Kakashi asked.

"The attack where I was blinded. Every where was blood! Even the shinobi who cut my eyes was covered in it!" Her sobbing came back full force. Kakshi nervously cleaned of the blood from his broken nose as Rin healed it.

"I think we should call it a day. Every one go home."

At the word home Ichigo looked up and Arashi was forced to look at her tear stained face.

"I don't want to go to Teacher's home alone, where should I go."

Arashi looked at his team. Obito shook his head vigorously. His clan didn't like outsiders. Rin also shook her head, since her house was too small for the extra person. And Arashi couldn't take her so that meant…..

"You can go home with kakashi!"

"What!" they both shouted.

Arashi smiled at placed Ichigo's hand in Kakashi's. She quickly pulled her hand away.

"What about my father? What if he says no?"

"Fangie?" Arashi asked, using his own nick name for his student's father. "He won't mind, he loves people."

Kakshi grumbled and walked away, and Ichigo followed his angry feeling chakra. She prayed Kakashi's father was nothing like his son.  
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**And here you have it……will the sleep over be fun, or terrible?**

**You'll have to wait till September since I busy all summer, sorry!!!! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, I'm finally back from my vacation. **

**So as we all know, I refuse to switch Arashi's name to his real one since I don't remember it, and so in turn, can't spell it!**

Kakshi looked over at Ichigo, who was slowly walking behind him. She was looking everywhere, her eyes couldn't stay still, and it was freaky.

"Would you hurry it up? I don't want to get home late."

Ichigo just looked at him, or who she thought was him. The town was crowded today, there were so many chakras she was lost in a sea of blue.

"But, I can't find you….I don't know which way to go…" Ichigo blushed and looked down at her feet.

Kakshi sighed and grabbed Ichigo's hand, pulling her quickly behind him.

"Kakashi slow down! I might trip!" Ichigo yelled as she tried to keep up the speed, and her balance. Kakshi just hmphed and continued to pull Ichigo behind him…

…until she did trip on a loose brick. Kakshi stopped and stared, before he started laughing.

"My god, what did you trip on? Your own feet?"

Ichigo rubbed her face, a bruise appearing on her cheek.

"I tripped on something sticking out. Any way, you shouldn't have been pulling me like that!"

Kakashi just shrugged and continued to walk away. Ichigo sat in the street, blinking, before she ran after Kakshi shouting "HEY! Don't leave me here!"

"If you don't hurry up, I will……HEY!"

Ichigo just whimpered. She had caught up to kakshi, and jumped onto his back.

"Get off of me!" Kakashi yelled, waving his arms in the air.

"No." Ichigo growled.

"Yes, now get off!"

"No! If you want me not to trip at the pace you want to go, then you have to carry me!"

Kakshi sighed and then started to whine "But what is some one sees, it will look weird."

Ichigo just shrugged, and then let go with one arm to point over to the side.

"Some one already saw Kakashi."

Kakashi turned to see who it was, almost throwing Ichigo off. Then he slapped his face, muttering "oh god, why you?"

Standing in front of Ichigo and Kakashi was a kid slightly older than they were. Though Ichigo couldn't see it (and she should be grateful) the boy had black hair, huge eye brows, and weird googley eyes. It was Gai.

"Yosh! My rival in live has approached me!"

"Hi Guy." Kakashi just sighed. Gai smiled and then noticed a red-violet thing looking over Kakashi's shoulder with white eyes.

"It seems that you, my rival, have something on your back! How youthful!"

Ichigo was cowering in fear. This loud person scared her, being around him might make her….well…..creepy. And she did not want to catch the creepy.

"Kakashi," Ichigo whispered into his ear "Can we leave, he scares me."

"Don't worry, he scares me too." Kakashi whispered back. Ichigo giggled.

"Well, that thing seems to be a person! WHAT IS YOUR YOUTTHFUL NAME?"

Ichigo hid even more behind Kakashi's shoulder.

"I'm Ichigo."

"Yosh! And I am Gai! Kakashi's eternal rival! Why are you on Kakashi's back?"

"Well….." Ichigo started, but Kakashi broke her off.

"She tripped, so I'm taking her home, bye Gai."

As Kakashi ran as fast as he could away from Gai the two of them could still him shout, "HOW YOUTHFUL!"

After running for a few minutes the two soon reached Kakashi's house. As he skidded to a halt Kakshi started to pry Ichigo off him self.

"You wait here," He told her "I'm going to see what is up with my dad, then we'll go to your house and get you some things."

"Okay, but kakashi?"

The boy turned to look at her; he was confused by the look on her face. It was like she was surprised and embarrassed.

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you angry any more about me staying over?"

Kakshi felt his face grow red for some reason. He hadn't noticed that he stopped hating the girl. And he really didn't know why, but he felt that she couldn't know that.

"Well, I just started to think of this as a mission as all. It made you easier to handle."

"Oh." The girl said with a disappointed sigh "And I though we were friends now."

Kakshi paused before he entered the house.

"We are any thing but friends." He muttered, and he slammed the door behind himself.

Ichigo plopped down onto the ground. Why was she upset that Kakashi wasn't her friend. It was obvious that he wasn't at first, but he started to tolerate her, so he must not hate her at least. Ichigo played with the grass she felt between her fingers. It would have been nice to have had a friend; she didn't really have friends back home since she liked to spend time with her mother and her teachers. She sighed, it was a pity, but she had sensei.

The gears in Ichigo's brain started to turn, powered by ideas. If Kakashi didn't want to be her friend, she could force him, or, be his worse night mare. The little girl started crackling evilly as she thought of the horrible things she, since she was a little girl and Kakshi was a little boy, could do.

The evil thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

"Are you Ichigo?" asked a very deep, dark, deadly voice. Ichigo eeped and nodded.

"Well, aren't you cute? Wow Kakashi, some girl friend you have here!"

Ichigo face-faulted to the ground, and she could here Kakshi groan.

"Dad, she isn't my girlfriend, in fact she's far from it. Didn't I explain it to you already?"

White Fang just stuck a finger in his ear lazily.

"To tell the truth, I wasn't listening to a word you said. Sorry. Well, come in Ichigo."

Ichigo got off the ground and brushed her self off. Then walked towards the two chakras, to only trip on the stairs and fall on her face.

"I hate stairs." Ichigo growled as she felt White Fang help her up.

"What was that about? You ok?"

"I'm fine, thank you, I just wasn't told about the stairs." Ichigo growled, looking in Kakashi's direction.

"Sorry, I thought you would see…..oh, oops. I forgot."

"HOW COULD YOU FORGET, YOU POKE FUN OF THE FACT I'M BLIND ALL THE TIME!" Ichigo shouted, almost rupturing White Fang's ear drum. Said man started at the little girl in his arms.

"You're blind, but aren't you a shinobi?"

"Yes and yes." Ichigo said proudly "Yanagi-sensei agreed to teach me, even before she knew I could see chakras!"

"So, that is why you look at us when we talk, since you can see…..wait a se, you're Yanagi's student?"

"Hia."

"Wow, and where are you from?"

"The Cloud village."

"And…. you're blind?"

"Yes." Ichigo practically growled, getting angry at the man.

"That's neat! Well, inside you two, I'll get dinner started."

"What about my things?" Ichigo asked as White Fang set her down on what seemed like a couch.

"Oh, you can just borrow some of Kakashi's cloths and give them back later; you two look the same size." White Fang laughed at the disgusted looks on the children's faces.

"Besides, I don't know where Yanagi lives, and I doubt you can tell me."

"Oh, right." Ichigo blushed.

"Well, while I'm making dinner, why doesn't Kakshi show you around?"

"Dad…..do I have to?" Kakashi groaned.

"Well, yeah, now, go."

Kakashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ichigo hopped off of the couch, ready for her tour.

"This is the living room. We keep books in here, and have a couch. The books are mostly porn, so ignore them. The bathroom is down that hall, second door on the right. The first door is my bedroom. On the left is my dad's room, and the kitchen in right in front of us. Watch out for the bar, you might walk into it."

Ichigo nodded.

"So," she asked "Where do I sleep?"

"Couch."

"Oh."

The two stood in silence.

"So, can we go to your room?"

"No."

"But you must have some toys or something, I'm bored already."

"Read a book."

Ichigo crossed her arms in front of her chest, causing Kakashi to sweat-drop.

"We could do some target practice?"

Ichigo just raised her eyebrows. Kakshi sighed.

"We could play with my Dad's dogs?"

"You have dogs! Cool!"

Kakshi sighed and grabbed Ichigo's hand, dragging her over to another door that seemed to lead out side.

"They are ninja dogs, so don't expect them…."

The dogs all turned and looked at Ichigo, then jumped on the young girl and started to lick her to death, causing her to break into a fit of laughter.

"…..like you. Oh well."

"Do they fetch?"

Kakashi snorted. "They do a lot more than just fetch. They can kill."

Ichigo petted the dogs. They had different chakra from other animals she had seen, they were special.

"I like them." Ichigo hugged one of the bigger dogs, dragging him close to her. His fur was soft against her face, and it smelled pleasant.

"Did you wash them recently?"

"Yeah, since my dad just got back from a mission. They were covered in blood."

"Poor doggies."

"I don't think they minded."

The two children then sat in silence and they petted the dogs. The only sound out side was the dog's panting, and the wind.

"Kids, dinner!" White Fang yelled out the open door. Ichigo and Kakshi stood up and walked into the kitchen, only to be greeted at the table by the weirdest looking (or in Ichigo's case, smelling) food ever.

"Dad, what the hell is this?" Kakashi asked as he poked the food with a Spork.

"Hmm, oh, Tofu and Pork sesame noodles. Eat them while they're hot."

Ichigo poked it with her finger, only for it to sink in.

"WAH!" she screamed "IT'S EATING ME!"

White Fang sighed. "Why don't I just go and get some Soba and Dango?"

"Please! OH PLEASE WILL YOU!" both kids screamed out. White Fang sighed and grabbed their plates and headed into the kitchen, then left. In ten minutes he had come back with the food, and was attacked by the 9 year olds. After dinner White Fang sent the kids to bed, since he was trying to be a good parent.

Kakashi threw some PJs at Ichigo.

"You can where those. Now go to the bathroom and change."

"Can't you just go and wait out side?"

"No, why?"

"I don't want to drop these into the toilet by mistake."

"Oh. I'll leave."

With Kakashi gone, Ichigo rushed into the PJs (which were too big on her) and then looked (felt) around Kakashi's room. The room was really bear, but there were some weapons, scrolls, a picture, and draws containing cloths.

Ichigo pulled out a pair, of, well, boxers. She stretched them a little, and then wham! The snapped and landed on her head…..

…just as Kakashi opened the door.

"Are those my boxers?"

"Boxers? What nine year old boy wears boxers?"

"I do, and get them off your head!"

Ichigo grabbed them off and threw them at him, amazingly hitting him in the face.

Kakashi growled and peeled them off.

"You little!" Kakashi didn't finished his sentence, since he had then pounced onto Ichigo, throwing both of them onto his bed. Ichigo thought fast and grabbed a pillow, and started to whack Kakashi repeatedly in the head with it. Since there had been only one pillow on the bed Kakashi started to play dirty and tickle Ichigo.

Soon the two were in a full out pillow/tickle war. Only to freeze when the door opened and White Fang grabbed Ichigo off the bed, gave Kakashi back his pillow, and would have walked out of the room, if not for the fact that Kakashi's too-big-for- her PJ bottoms hadn't fallen down. Every ones face grew red, since they could all see Ichigo's froggy undies. White Fang put the girl on the ground, and the shirt then fell down to her knees, but the damage had been done.

When Ichigo was sure that both of them were asleep she prepared her revenge. All she need were marshmallows, and fire.

----------------------------------------

Arashi sighed, Ichigo and Kakashi were late. Rin was reading a scroll, and Obito was picking out grass.

"This is lame, where are they?" Obito whined.

"We're here!"

The group turned to see Ichigo, being followed by a very white and quite possibly sticky Kakashi.

"Wow, what happened to you?" Arashi asked as he laughed.

"I got covered with this sticky stuff in the middle of the night, and it won't wash off very easily. So I didn't have time to get it all off."

Arashi shrugged.

"Well, any way, Ichigo will still be with us today since Yanagi-chan is still on her mission. So today we are going to go visit my sensei, ero-sensei."

Ichigo frowned.

"Ero?"

"Yep. My teacher was Jiraiya, the supper pervert!"

Kakashi groaned.

"Why are you proud of that?"


	6. Chapter 6

**If you remember I said that Jiraiya was going to be in this chapter**

**I changed my mind, I have a better idea instead **

**O.0 (better my virtual ass.)**

…**.Stupid computer, don't listen to her.**

**-------------------------------------------------------**

"So, you covered Kakshi in melted marshmallows?"

"Yeah."

Yanagi sighed as she handed her student her tea. She had just gotten back from her mission that morning, but she wasn't in time to see the white sticky madness Ichigo had caused.

"I mean, the fish ate it all off after I pushed him into the lake."

Cue the anime sweat-drop. Yanagi slowly shook her head as she pulled out her own chair and sat down.

"And you wonder why Kakshi doesn't like you."

"Oh, he likes me tons, I just don't like him."

Yanagi just started at the small girl as she calmly sipped her tea. Ichigo was turning out to be a complex character, a metaphorical rubix cube. Once you figure out one side, you realize you have five more sides to go, plus you need to try and not loose track of the side that you HAD finished.

"You my dear student are too much like my sister for your own good."

"You have a sister?"

"Unfortunately yes. She lives in our home town, and is ninja there too. I love her, but still…."

Yanagi trailed off as she turned to stare at a picture of her and her red haired sibling when they were younger. The girl had been know through out as the 'ultimate prankster', and was known for being just like a kitsune.

"…she's weird. End of story."

Ichigo huffed slightly glaring at her teacher. "I will get to meet her though, right?"

"One day when I don't have to fear her rubbing off on you."

"You know sis that really hurt."

Yanagi didn't even bother to turn around and instead stared to bang her head on the table. She had KNOWN she was followed home, but no, she never had stopped to kill the damn bugger. Ichigo just stared as a chakra seemed to suddenly manifest it's self on to the couch. The blue chakra that felt a lot like Yanagi got up and walked over. When it stopped it hopped onto the counter and began to swing its legs.

"What. No hello? I just got back from a deadly mission and INSTEAD of going home to my safe, warm, bed, I came to visit you."

"Kushina you liar, you came to visit Minato and you know it."

Even though Ichigo couldn't see, she had a feeling that this Kushina was now blushing at the thought of the future Hokage.

"That's SO not true."

Yanagi grinned slightly "wait until I tell him that."

Kushina jumped down and quickly pulled her older sister into a playful head-lock.

"By god Uzumaki Yanagi you have better not or I swear!"

"You swear what?"

"I'll give you a death noogie."

"No! Anything but a death noogie! Kami save me!" Yanagi shouted with faked terror, even going so far as to let her hands fly to her cheeks. Ichigo couldn't help but giggle at the sister's antics. Kushina froze and stared at Ichigo.

Ichigo stared at Kushina.

Kushina stared at Ichigo.

Ichigo blinked.

Kushina blinked.

Ichigo blinked again.

Kushina scratched her head, and then poked her sister in the neck.

"Who's the kid?"

"SHE WAS SITTING THERE THE WHOLE TIME, YET NOW YOU NOTICE HER!"

Kushina laughed nervously. "Umm yeah."

"And yet you are still alive! How could you survive this long as a ninja with such poor skills I do not know?"

"Gee wiz, not all of us can have advanced chakra detection skills. So who are you kid?"

"I'm Ichigo, Yanagi is my teacher."

"But she hates kids with the burning passion of 1000 pissed off Uchiha."

"Ichigo here is different. She is a fast learner and amazingly head strong."

"Isn't it bad to be head strong?"

"I meant committed, but that's not the point."

"Really, so kid what can you do?"

Ichigo held up her hands as she stared to list things she had been taught, and had mastered.

"I can water walk, and do substitution. Umm, I'm really good at hitting moving people and have mastered a few water jutsu. That's my chakra type too, water. And I can almost see chakra through walls now."

"Pretty meager….wait a fuck, you SEE chakra?"

"Yeah. If I couldn't I wouldn't be able to be a ninja since I'm blind."

"No fucking way!"

Ichigo just nodded, a slight blush forming from all the foul words Kushina was using. Yanagi must have noticed too, for she whapped her sister on the back of the head. Yanagi then sighed as she looked over at a clock.

"It's late Ichigo, you should get to bed."

The small red-violet haired girl sighed before pushing her chair back and walking to her room, narrowly avoiding walking into a wall. Yanagi stood up and stretched, turning to her sister she muttered. "It's about time I turned it in too. You can have the couch if you want."

"It's only 7."

"We just got back from missions, so we need to rest."

Kushina nodded and walked over to a cupboard in the hall to rummage for a spare blanket, and hopefully a pillow. Yanagi was almost in her room when a knock came from the door. Suppressing a growl at the people you were going over this late at night she walked over and opened the door.

White fang was now looking down at her, a sleeping Kakshi in his arms.

"I just got a call for a urgent mission, and I didn't want to leave Kakshi alone, so can you watch him for the night?"

Yanagi sighed, what was she today, an inn? "Sure, put him down on the couch, Kushina can sleep in my room."

"Oh, your sister is over?" White fang whispered as he lay his son down.

"Yeah, she just went into the bathroom. Do you want me to get her?"

White Fang just shook his head and pulled down his ANBU mask. "I'll say Hi when I come back." And with that his walked out, closing the door behind him softly with a click.

Yanagi yawned as she looked over at Kakshi. For once his face mask was down, adding to the utter cuteness his sleeping was. The normal scowl had been replaced by utter calm. She couldn't help but ruffle his hair, which caused him to scrunch up his face, before yanking her sister out from the bathroom and into her room to finally sleep.

-------------------------------------------

When Kakshi woke up, it was to the smell of edible pancakes.

"Morning sleepy"

Kakashi opened his eyes to only see Ichigo's whit pools. He nearly screamed, not having the normal composer he normally did so early in the morning.

"Where the hell am I?"

"My teacher's house."

"How did I get here?"

"Yanagi said that your Dad brought you here when he heard he had a mission."

Kakashi nodded and rolled off the couch, landing on the floor with a light plop. Before he did anything else he pulled up his mask.

"You should keep it down, we are going to eat."

"How did you know I pulled it up any how?" Kakshi asked as he pulled it down before sticking a fork full of pancake into his mouth.

"I heard it." Ichigo said, doing the same with her own fork.

Kushina sighed. "I can't stand sweet stuff in the morning, can't I get Raman instead?"

"No, it isn't healthy." Yanagi scolded, waving the battle laden spatula at her sister. The batter flew off and landed onto Kushina's face. As the room shook with laughter a knock echoed from the door. Yanagi sighed "I'll get it."

It was and ANBU. He spoke quietly and quickly, but everyone heard what he had to say.

"The resent mission an ANBU team had was a failure. The only survivor was one White Fang, after he returned it is believed he had stabbed himself multiple times, and bled to death from his wounds. I'm quite sorry."

Yanagi slowly closed the door and turned to look at Kakshi, while he was only staring at the floor, his mask once again pulled up.

---------------------------

**Sad, I know, but hey, it's an update!**

**Time skip next chapter! Warning!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok, time skip time!**

**Ichigo will be 12 now, so will Kakashi. **

**Forgive me for the crappy battles, I'm just coping them from the manga really. **

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Ichigo stared where the smell of butter cream was coming from. The cake was going to go stale soon, since she knew the icing had already hardened.

He hadn't come, even though he had promised her.

Why hadn't he? It's not like he had anything else to do. Stupid kakashi, stupid junnin.

Yanagi walked over and rubbed her student's head, before she took the uneaten cake, with the untouched word '_Congratulations!' _written carefully on it.

"Why don't you head to bed?" she asked as she put the cover back over it, and placing it on the counter. She didn't even bother to even try to just any fake joy into her voice. It wouldn't change anything. Kakashi had done the same thing lately, and this might have been the last thing Ichigo could stand. With a heavy heart Yanagi watched her student sigh and slowly push her chair away from the table before slowly walking down the hall.

It wasn't that Kakashi had become distant over time either. After his father's death, he seemed to cling to Ichigo like a lost puppy, only shedding his cold exterior around her. But once he was put on the list of junnin hopefuls, things seemed to go downhill fast for the two's friend ship. Yanagi sighed once more before just throwing the cake in the garbage before heading off to bed herself.

Ichigo flinched slightly at the wet plopping sound as the cake hit the bottom of the bin. She sighed and rolled over in her bed. If the injury that seemed all those years ago hadn't damaged her eyes so much she would have been crying. In her mind she could feel the hot, wet tears that would never come roll down her cheeks. Maybe it would have just been better if she had given up on him once he stopped talking to her, or maybe once he didn't come to her small birthday party like he had every year between her coming to the cloud and the most resent.

Though it didn't matter if she chose to hate him, she still had to see him tomorrow since she and his team were going to be training together.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"It sucks so much baka-shi! Why do you get to get to be a junnin first?"

"Maybe because I have skill and follow the code, unlike you dobe."

"Say it to my face teme!"

"I already did."

Rin rolled her eyes and turned to say something to Ichigo, but the young girl just seemed to be staring into space from where she sat on Minato's lap. The young medic Nin just sighed and went to try and pry the two bickering boys apart.

Minato sighed and picked Ichigo up, who was still very small for her age, and placed her on his shoulders.

"Come on guys, shut up so I can explain the mission!" he yelled, causing Ichigo to jump and cling to his head to keep from falling off. The next Hokage chuckled as he pulled out a map and sat down on the grass, his students following suit.

He began to explain that they would need to sabotage a group of incoming Iwa ninjas at the border while other Konoha troops were getting ready to attack the front lines. It was relatively easy, just destroying a bridge, but it could quickly turn deadly if they were found. That is why they asked Yanagi for permission to borrow Ichigo, as a look out. He chakra seeing went farther that the human eye, even in a forest. it was almost as good as a Hyuuga is some cases. Minato would also be acting as a decoy for his students, so they would most likely only have to deal with guards. With one last smile from their teacher, the team headed out.

Almost as soon as they entered the forest, Ichigo noticed around 20 Iwa ninja. A few seemed to be Kage bushin. She tugged on Minato's hair, and leaned over to whisper in his ear. Kakashi had noticed too, and was saying he would take care of them.

"Don't be stupid teme," Obito whispered "how can you handle 20 people, even if most of them are cloned?"

Kakshi snorted. "I have a new jutsu I want to try out. It should cut through them all very fast."

Ichigo furrowed her eye brows at what kakshi was talking about. Could a new jutsu have been what was keeping him so busy? She sat up on Minato's shoulders as a sound like 1000's of birds began to come from the ball of crackling chakra Ichigo could see blaze in Kakashi's hand.

With a gasp from Ichigo, kakshi ran straight into the field, straight at one of the hidden ninja. Minato quickly reacted, throwing Kunai out. Though it seemed like they were missing, they were actually hitting their targets. Showing Kakshi where the true enemies were hidden.

The sound echoed through the trees. Kakshi was counting calmly as he struck down his opponents. "18." He said, but with a whoosh of air, the bird noise stopped coming. Ichigo only hand a moment to react and she seemed to fall to the ground, but she saw Minato reach Kakshi in time to pull him out of the way of the Iwa nin's weapon.

Almost as suddenly as he was there, Minato and kakshi too were standing back with the ground. Ichigo ignored the smell of blood coming from kakshi as she turned to listen for what Minato would have them do next.

But suddenly he was gone again. Ichigo sighed as Rin gasped from the shock of seeing up close how fast the body flicker was.

Yanagi had told Ichigo just what it meant for Minato to be the Yellow Flash. Telling the young girl almost exactly how many ninja he had killed by just using that one, super fast jutsu. It was amazing to thing someone could use chakra to move that fast.

Suddenly their sensei was back, the smell of blood just barely detectible to even Ichigo's sensitive nose.

"Sensei, Kakshi has an injury, it isn't bad, but it isn't minor either." Rin said from where she knelt by him, her glowing green hands pressed to his shoulder.

"Then we should head back to camp for know."

"I'm fine." Kakshi growled, almost pushing Rin away.

'What do you mean fine you teme?" Obito yelled

Ichigo sighed as Minato picked it up. "If those two don't stop the enemy will find us." she sighed, almost whinny. Minato chuckled. "Don't worry Ichigo-Chan, I'll protect you."

"If you didn't Yanagi-sensei would remove your manhood with a dull spoon."

Minato sweat dropped, knowing full well his former teammate would do just that. He sighed and patted Ichigo on the head before turning to his actual students.

"Kakshi, stop berating Obito. Yes the rules are important, but rules aren't concrete. Sometimes you need to break them." he turned to look at Obito for a second before looking back at Kakashi.

"Also that jutsu is incomplete. At the speed you are moving to attack with it you can't see your enemy parry. I don't want you to use it until you work on it some more, understand?" Minato sighed as Kakashi seemed to glare at him. "Listen, before we separate, you all need to remember, team work is the most important part of being a shinobi." The three looked down in almost shame, Ichigo hugged Minato's head. The forth sighed as he waved his team over to an area to settle in for the night.

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The next morning the two groups were to be spilt. Ichigo for some childish reason clung to Minato's leg. It wasn't that she didn't trust the team; it's just that she didn't think that at the moment she could trust them with her life.

"Please don't do this Ichigo-Chan." Minato whined as he playfully shook his leg. Ichigo looked down at the ground in shame, before walking over to take Obito's hand. No one noticed Kakashi blatantly look at the two's hands.

"You guys try to be careful ok, and don't to argue too much. Take care, because from now on the battles will only get tougher."

After the young ninja watched Minato go, to every ones shock Obito muttered "let's go commander."

For the next few hours Ichigo had to deal with earth running after, being dragged, or being carried by her so called teammates. After she had run into the third tree that day did they stop to rest.

"Really Ichigo, you need to be more careful." Rin sighed as she healed to girl's bleeding nose.

"I know, but who ever said plants have chakra was lying."

"Well either way, I don't want to have to carry you." Kakshi said; his voice annoyingly calm. He didn't even flinch as the girl glared at him.

Suddenly Kakshi froze and ran forwards, grabbing the red-violet girl. An Iwa ninja landed with a splash where she had been sitting, and quickly knocked Rin out and picked her up. Another Iwa ninja was attacking Obito, but stopped once he saw his teammate had a hostage.

As soon as the ninja were gone, Obito ran over and punched Kakshi in the face.

"How could you do that!" he yelled, holding onto Kakashi's shirt "She's our teammate and you let them get her!"

"It was either that or let Ichigo get crushed. Now shut up and let us continue the mission."

"WHAT! And not go get Rin? Why the hell should we!"

"She's a medic ninja; they should treat her well as long as she does what she says. If they had gotten Ichigo, she would be dead." Ichigo froze as she felt Kakashi's grip on her tighten.

"But we still should go after her!"

"She'll be fine until after the mission."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do, now listen to your commander."

"But we need her, she's our friend!"

"We need to follow the mission."

"Mission shmission, our new one is to rescue Rin."

"Obito, for the sake of missions, sacrifices must be made."

"Then what about Ichigo? Rin was more valuable than her, she's a medic ninja. If it wasn't for her you would still be injured."

"Shut up." Kakshi said in a low growl.

"Besides, Ichigo isn't a real ninja! She's fucking blind!"

"She's more a ninja than you!" kakashi yelled, finally loosing his compositor.

"Yeah right te-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?"

The two boys turned to the small girl, whose eyes were flashing in anger at the two arguing boys. Both of them quickly shut their mouths.

"DAMN YOU OBITO, HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT ME, AND YOU AKASHI SHOULDN'T SAY THAT ABOUT RIN EITHER! YOU BOTH SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!!"

The two boys, who could no longer hear right, hung their heads.

"Now what do you have to say for yourselves?"

Obito spoke first "Sorry I said that about you Ichigo, I didn't mean a word of it, I'm just worried about Rin."

Kakashi looked at his teammates with emotionless eyes. "I'm sorry I exploded, it just proves emotions get in the way. Ninja are just tools who shouldn't show emotion."

Obito turned his head in shock, and Ichigo just shook her head slowly. "Do you really think that kakashi?" He asked.

The white hair boy just looked at his teammate for a few seconds with half hooded eyes, when he spoke he turned slightly before hand to look at Ichigo with a sad look.

"Yes, I do."

Obito growled and stepped away.

"We're just oil and water aren't we? Well I'm going to rescue Rin on my own; you can stay here and complete the mission with Ichigo." Obito turned to walk away, but stepped after only a few steps.

"Just to let you know, White Fang is a true hero, something you can't hope to become."

Ichigo stared at Kakashi as his eyes widened and his face was over taken by shock. She glared at Obito to stop, but he just added fuel to the fire.

"They say those that break the rules are trash, but those that turn their backs on their friends are worse that trash." He turned for a second to look Kakashi in the eye "What does that make you?" He turned for a second to look at Ichigo. "You never liked Rin, did you?"

Ichigo found her self nodding "She didn't take it seriously. Not many female ninja do."

"Well, guess I can't call you trash then. But was I your friend?"

"Maybe once, but you just said you wanted me dead, even after apologizing, so I doubt you are though."

Even though she couldn't see it, Obito smiled. "I have no regrets then" and he quickly started to run through the forest.

----------------------------------------

"Kakashi, I think we need to follow him."

"Why, he insulted you."

"So did you, you didn't come to the party."

"What party?"

Ichigo growled lightly and smacked her again friend in the shoulder, he winced at the action and grabbed it in pain.

"Sorry kakashi. Maybe we do need Rin back."

Kakashi just sat there, staring at the ground.

"I feel bad, letting him go alone."

Kakashi stood silently, before he started to run.

"Wait up! I might hit a tree!" Ichigo shouted, though she knew exactly where he was heading.

They reached Obito not a moment too soon. Kakashi headed to save the boy from an almost certain stab to the heart.

Ichigo was hiding in the trees, watching and gathering chakra. She tried to ignore ad the two boys reconciled and tried to hold in her gasp as Kakashi was slashed in the eye. Seeing it brought back scary memories, but she swallowed and went on. Trying ignore everything but the gathering of chakra into the air, and more importantly the water in the air.

The ninja had seemed to disappear, which wasn't good for Ichigo. She could barely see the blue people shaped blobs. If she went to warn Kakashi and Obito now, it would just blow her cover.

But Ichigo could contain her gasp, and the dull orange of Obito suddenly burst to a bright and fiery shade as he stabbed the blue shape of an enemy, snuffing out the blue glow instantly.

Obito had awakened his Sharingan!

The two boys smiled at each other, as Kakashi put some medical ointment on his eye.

"Let's go rescue Rin."

"Where's Ichigo though? She isn't too mad at me?"

"She's here, and no, I don't think she can get mad at any one."

The two boys rushed down, and began attacking the ninja guarding Rin.

The enemy ran forwards quickly, only to be parried by the boys at the same time. He swiftly took out a kunai, one for each and, slashing at Obito. But Obito wasn't hit easily, she could see everything the Iwa was doing, and it seemed so slow as well.

One specific slash left his face wide open, Obito instantly kicked up, using his legs to keep the enemy's face wide open for Kakshi to swoop in. the white haired boy used his chakra blade to slash into the man's shoulder, making that arm nearly useless.

The two boys jumped over the man, and hurried to Rin to untie her.

Only Ichigo seemed to notice the man form the seals to a jutsu. She jumped down from the trees, causing1000's of rain drops to cut into the Iwa ninja's skull, killing him instantly.

But it was too late, rocks started falling around them. Ichigo tried to use her rain drops to break up the larger rocks are the others ran for cover. But it was risky; she had only the sound the rocks made while they cut the wind to go on. She looked back, and saw Kakshi on the ground, and then saw him being pushed by Obito. There was a wet sound, barely audible, and half of Obito's bright orange chakra was snuffed out. The rocks stopped dropping. She heard Rin scream, and Obito weakly start talking. She wanted to run over, but without knowing her surroundings she was trapped.

She then froze in shock as she heard it.

"…take my sharingan…."

She placed her hands over her ears, trying to ignore Kakashi's screams as he was given the new eye. But suddenly he was at her side; she looked at him, that one area of his head glowing orange again the blue.

"There are more coming, are you and Rin up to it?"

He took her hand, and led her up to the rock where Obito's chakra was slowly fading, and Rin's green was crying.

Almost as soon as they stood still had more Iwa ninja arrive. The immediately started with earth jutsu, and Ichigo fired her rain drops at them, using ten each to pierce the men in their hearts. The sight of their chakras disappearing meant she had gotten her target.

She watched from the corner of her eye as the orange dotted blue worked on extinguishing other blue lights.

The sound of rocks grinding against each other, and feeling of them erupted beneath her feet. Ichigo turned around, and grabbed Rin by the hand, to try and pull her up before he died with Obito.

"Come on Rin, please!"

For some reason she was hesitating. Ichigo growled and with a huge tug pulled the girl up, and fell to the ground. Beneath the rocks Ichigo could see no more orange.

Obito was dead.

She turned to Rin and smiled. "Let's kick Iwa butt for him, ok?"

Ichigo didn't wait for answer as she raised her hand, gathering raindrops into it like a ball, and flung them at the enemy.

Nothing seemed to be working though, as soon as one blue light went off, another 3 came up. It was hope less. After killing around 30 more ninja, Ichigo sunk to one knee, Rin was there to catch the girl as she fell, chakra exhaustion over taking her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When she woke up her body was slumped over the lily smelling hair of Minato. He was talking to Kakashi, explaining why they were still alive. She mumbled a little in her dreamy state and throughout their whole conversation was on the verge of entering dream land.

At Obito's funeral Kakashi and Rin were each grasping onto one of Ichigo's hands. And she squeezed just as hard back. By the end of the service all of them couldn't bend their fingers, and laughed half heartedly when Ichigo couldn't hold onto the tea cup at the tea house Minato took them too afterwards.

'The only good thing coming from this is Ichigo might become our full time team mate now." Kakashi sighed. Minato just smiled, not wanting to tell them the truth.


	8. Chapter 8

It was early morning, and the sun was shinning bright and warm on Ichigo's face from where she lay in the grass

It was early morning, and the sun was shinning bright and warm on Ichigo's face from where she lay in the grass. Though it was early her heart was beating fast and her breath was ragged.

The past few weeks she had been training as hard as her body let her. She hadn't even slept the past few days, and spent the nights dancing with her rain instead. Now she lay there, out of chakra and energy, letting the early sun dry off her soaking cloths.

It felt like her eyelids were drooping, but she couldn't really tell if they were. Since there were no chakra signatures around, her world would be dark even if her eyes were open. With a sigh she rolled over onto her stomach, and into a small ball. Right now was the perfect time for a cat nap even though it was hard to get to sleep.

The reason she had been training so hard was that Yanagi had signed her up for the upcoming chunnin exams, saying it was about time she progressed. It was also why she was training so hard. She wanted to become a chunnin so badly, and all because of what had happened just a few days after Obito's funeral.

_The three children stood in the Hokage's office. The old man was staring at them while taking long drags from his long pipe._

"_I know that the ideal replacement for young Obito is Ichigo, but I simply can't allow her to join your team."_

"_But why!" Kakshi shouted his first balling up. Rin was hold Ichigo tightly, since the small girl had begun to cry. _

"_She isn't a ninja of our village. She was never a gennin, and never registered."_

"_Neither did I old man." Minato said, forgetting that he should try to be the least bit polite. _

"_You were at least in the academy for a bit before you were taken for training, plus as soon as you came back you were given the rank of gennin, and a team."_

"_Then why can't you do that for Ichigo?"_

_The old Hokage sighed and took another long drag. _

"_She isn't a member of our village. I have sent a letter to the Raikage. He has yet to send a reply, but until then things will go on as normal. You four may leave now."_

When Ichigo had gotten home, she told Yanagi all about the meeting. Her teacher just ran out of the house, coming back saying that she had signed up her student for the exams. Every one was looking forward to the exams, a thing of pleasure and entertainment after the long war.

Of coarse there was only one small problem with Ichigo being signed up.  
She didn't have a team. And without a team, she couldn't participate.

So basically she was working her ass off for nothing. The only incomplete teams were already all chunnin or higher. Also none of the other gennin teams that were signed up had missions right now with the exam in only a few days. So with no chance of them loosing a team mate, there would be no slot for her.

With a sigh she rolled over again, and than lay there still, until she fell into a dreamless sleep.

When Ichigo awoke her noticed two things:

One was that someone was poking her

Two was that she didn't know this person.

Now as Kakashi, Obito, Minato, Kushina, and Jiryah had all painfully found out, no one is ever aloud to poke her when she first wakes up. If the man hadn't been an ANBU then he would have found himself with a small, but deep, shoe print imbedded into his face.

"The Hokage wishes to see you." said the ANBU as he picked a leave out of his hair before jumping away. Ichigo sat there and watched him leave, before sluggishly getting up and slowly walking over to the Hokage's tower.

--

When she got there she first noticed the two sullen looking children sitting by the Hokage's desk. One was a girl, her blonde hair tied back into a thin braid. The other was a boy with very light brown hair. Though all Ichigo could see was the light blue chakra of the boys, and the incredibly strange one of the girls. Along the perimeter, near her skin, it was a brilliant blue. But, when you got closer and closer to the core, the blue was over being over taken. It faded from blue, to purple, to at the very center a bright splotch of brilliant red that reminded Ichigo of fire, or freshly spilt blood.

The Hokage turned to the shocked young girl and smiled.

"Ichigo, let me introduce Yugito and Sendo from the Cloud, they are going to be your new team mates."


	9. Chapter 9

**YAY, new chapter! There are a lot of skips because I hate writing the chunnin exam. End of story, and I warned you.**

**---**

The three near teenagers started at each other. Though, in truth it was more of a gang up on one particular one, and that one wasn't really staring at anything but her feet. So, in the end, she was the only one being stared at.

Ichigo sighed, wanting so badly to be back with all her friends, not these people. And from the waves given off by their chakra, they didn't want her either, especially Yugito. Her red chakra scared her; it was unworldly and just felt wrong.

Her new sensei - she wanted to vomit at the fact Yanagi wasn't her sensei any more- was jabbering, trying to find some way to ease the tension. Fool, he was only making more.

"…and so I thought a trip to the hot spring to relax before the exam would be a great way to bond!"

"Fuck you." Yugito growled, and the older man visibly recoiled. Strange, that a grown would have so much fear for a little girl.

"…have you been to this hot spring before Ichigo-san?"

He was really talking to her? His voice was gentle, maybe he wasn't as bad as he seemed, maybe the anger she felt was just some other sort of nerve.

"Yes, I have. We like the mix bath after missions….especially since then ero-sannin wont spy. He doesn't like naked men, just women."

Sendo sweat dropped. "An Ero- Sannin?"

Ichigo nodded, and felt a smile come to her lips, the first one in ages. "Yes, though you might know him by Jiraiya."

Her sensei stopped in his tracks "You know the Toad sannin?"

Ichigo was confused. "Yes, since I train with the team of his former student, Minato Namikaze."

Now her sensei was shivering. What was he? A scared puppy? "You've trained…under the y-yellow flash?"

Ichigo shrugged, it wasn't a big deal, was it? "It should have been on my file, didn't you read it?"

He just shook his head as Sendo took her hands, such a friendly gesture that it warmed her heart "Then you must no so many cool jutsu!"

She laughed "No, not really. I just know enough not to die. That's all you really need out there."

Suddenly the air was filled with a very feminine, very feline growl. "Just enough to survive?" Yugito hissed "There is no. Such. Thing!" and with that one last shout she stormed off. Sendo sighed as their teacher chased after her.

"I'm sorry, but we were all close…we are-were Yugito's only friends."

Ichigo cocked her head to the side, looking like a very confused little puppy.

"But why? Is it because of her bad attitude?"

"You know I am standing right here." Yugito mumbled, their sensei having dragged her back to the group.

"Well? I still want an answer."

The two cloud ninjas look at each other, having the type of silent conversation that most friends can do with a scary sort of ease.

"Because I am the Nekomata! Fear me human before I eat your soul! ROAR!" Yugito shouted, scaring the people they passed as they entered the hot spring.

Ichigo just continued to be very, very confused.

"What's the Nekomata?"

Yugito was so stunned that she tripped and fell face first in the dirt. Sendo tried not to laugh.

"T-the Nekomata is a two tailed cat bijuu that was sealed into Yugito when she was a baby. She isn't really the demon, but people think she is so they give her a wide berth."

"But why?"

Yugito and Sendo once again sighed at her innocence…or stupidity, what ever it was. In the end they choose just to remain silent, hoping that she would stop.

"If you have a demon sealed in you…and they thought you were the demon…then…my brain hurts."

Yugito chuckled "That must happen to you a lot small fry."

Ichigo shrugged, not really getting she was being made fun of, until it dawned on her.

"TAKE IT BACK!"

"MAKE ME BAKA!"

With a battle cry worthy of any shinobi Ichigo began to run after her team mate, shaking her fist. Yugito just smiled and ran, keeping always a few feet in front of her new, so it seemed, friend.

---

The exams were tomorrow. Since the day she met her team, all that she had been doing was training together with them. She still met up with Team Kakashi every now and then…well mostly just Kakashi. And she still lived with Yanagi. But, she was becoming closer and closer to her team.

One of the main reasons was because their sensei had them do so many team work exercises, saying that they would never survive the exam with out knowing each other. Though Ichigo feared that she would just be treated like a third wheel, Sendo made sure she was included, and kept Yugito from ignoring the girl.

Though, there was one issue. Yugito and Ichigo seemed to love to fight. Physical or verbal did them both just fine. Yes, they were friendly, but to many it looked like they were always trying to kill each other. But Ichigo didn't mind, since that was how Kakashi and Obito were, and they were the best of friends. Hell, even she quarreled with Kakashi. The Hokage just laughed it off, saying it was a quirk she gained from being with Yanagi so long, what ever that meant.

But as the three of them were lying in the grass, cloud busting, they weren't fighting, they weren't even talking.

"Ichigo, what do your chunnin friends say about the exams?" Sendo asked, breaking the silence.

"They didn't take them; they were promoted because of war time."

"Ah."

"…you think we can do it though?" Ichigo asked in a small and quiet voice.

"Why not shrimp?"

Ichigo sighed "Other teams have been together for years, they know each other's faults and strengths, all I know about you is that Sendo wants to be a healer, and you like hitting things."

Yugito laughed, mainly because it was true "Yeah, and you like to be a dip-shit."

Ichigo scowled and threw a dirt clod at Yugito, purposely missing…maybe.

Yugito just laughed harder "I didn't mean it Baka-berry."

"Suuure you didn't."

"Really!"

With a chuckle Sendo piped up "You know if you two are this loud, you could get us killed one day."

"Oh big deal Sendo, we can just run away. As long as Baka-berry here doesn't run into a tree."

"Just for that, if we ever have to run away, you have to carry me."

"Make me!"

----

"I HATE BUGS!" Yugito shouted as she carried Ichigo on her back. The team had already gotten the scroll they needed, but they couldn't get back to the tower since they had a stupid caterpillar thing chasing them in circles.

"RUN FASTER!"

"I AM DAMNIT!"

Ichigo growled as she went through the hand seals, again and again, trying to get the tree limbs to move right, controlling the water housed inside each of them. But the creature would just ram into them and break them like it was nothing.

Sendo was close to sobbing. He was not made for endurance running like this, and his legs were covered in scratches from earlier fights. He may be a healer, but he also loved any tijutsu that involved kicking things. The wound from a kunai on his calf still bled, Ichigo could see the chakra laden drops fall below them with each movement of the limb.

"How close are we to the tower?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Yugito screamed. She had always hated bugs, but this was just pushing it.

Looking left and right Ichigo tried to find some sort of useful anything, until she spied a large pillar of chakra, with many little chakras in side.

"THE TOWER! LEFT! LEFT! OTHER LEFT STUPID CAT!"

The team pivoted and ran as Ichigo instructed, jumping out the forest as the caterpillar cried out, knowing it had lost its prey and refusing to go out into the clearing around the tower. Yugito, not being used to landing with extra weight, landed oddly and rolled into the tower, as Sendo kept running for his life, stopping only once the doors were safely closed behind him.

"Are…are we dead?" Ichigo asked her voice shaky.

"If we're dead…get out of my heaven."

The three stared at each other, Ichigo still upside down, and started laughing like idiots.

---

"How could only 3 other teams make it to the tower in time?" Kakashi asked, slurping up celebratory ramen.

"I blame the caterpillar of doomed ness"

"…Yugito come up with that name?"

Ichigo laughed "Yep." While Kakashi just shook his head.

"You brats are really lucky."

"I'm not a brat! And Yugito and Sendo are a year older then me." Ichigo shouted, nearly spilling her soup into her lap with an added shriek.

He couldn't help but smile. "Yep, brat" Kakshi said.

"I'll show you who's a brat in a month when I become a chunnin."

"You'll always be a brat to me. Chunnin, or Junnin or Hokage…well…Raikage."

The mood instantly became more melancholy as the two remember they were on borrowed time.

"We only have a month left together, don't we?"

Kakashi gave his friend an uneasy one armed hug "Cheer up brat, we can still write."

The girl scowled. "How can I write? Or read your letters?"

"We can learn Braille. It's a spy code with raised bumps; the blind some times use it."

"We could…but I prefer your voice."

The hug grew tighter. "As do I."

"Do you think that if I failed, then I would be allowed to stay?" Ichigo asked, burying her face into Kakashi's side.

"Probably not, but don't fail. Might as well walk out of here a winner right?"

Ichigo smiled, knowing her friend was right. "Yeah, I'll just become the best ninja ever, until I can wonder around like Jiraiya, then I can visit all the time!"

Even though Kakshi doubted she'd ever reach that level, he humored her and nodded.

"Sure brat, what ever you wish."

"Yeah, I'll be the best sannin ever!"

Kakshi sighed. "The only sannin are in Konoha brat."

"Damn."

The two looked at each other and laughed, enjoying one of the last moments they could very well spend together.

---

Ichigo was nervous. Yugito and Sendo had already gone. Yugito won in a just a few seconds, while Sendo dragged his battle out, though ultimately he just couldn't beat his opponent. Now it was her turn.

---

**Don't hate me for the jumpiness; I needed to get the plot to MOVE. **

**Next chapter! Ichigo: Win or Fail????**


	10. Chapter 10

**BE PROUD YOU GUYS! YOU ARE THE REASON I UPDATED! THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS AND FAVORITES EVEN WHEN I WAS ON HIATUS!**

…**how did you find this story anyway? Lol, well here you go, the continuation of BLIND STRAWBERRIES! **

**Because I lover you all, I promise there will be Ichigo/Kakashi fluff. **

BSBSBSBS

_Years Ago:_

"_Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo," Yanagi sighed as she looked at her student. "There is no way in all of Konoha that you could possibly win in a spar if you just wave your arms around like you were swatting bees."_

_The 7 year old sighed. Yanagi had been training with her for hours. "But how can I spar if I can't see them? You know that when I can't focus I can't see their chakra. Battles are just too chaotic!"_

_The teacher looked down at her student before bobbing the small girl on the head with her fist. "You're such a baka. Listen. As a ninja you will have to fight people, and most likely those people will be other ninjas out to kill you. They will have the skill to do so, unless you know how to defeat them. Now, yes you can't see them, but kid, you have 4 other senses." The woman laughed as she scooped Ichigo up in an embrace, mussing up the girl's hair with a well aimed noogie "but I hope you don't taste them!"_

_Breaking out into a fit of giggles, Ichigo tried to push her teacher away "EW! That's gross!"_

"_It may be. But, in all reality, you have to use every thing you got kid, everything. You must win. Always. Being a ninja isn't safe, and a fight isn't just a spar, its always life and death" _

The arena was oddly silent as Ichigo walked out. Sure there were the sounds of people as there always are. She was sure she could even here people shouting words of luck and encouragement at her. But, it all seemed muted. All she could hear was her heart beat, the words of the announcer as he proclaimed the participants of the battle.

"Next is the battle between Ichigo Ritoru of Cloud and Yuri Yunami of Suna! Fighters! On my mark!"

Now there was a pure silence, people waiting for that moment of the first rush. Were Ichigo and her opponent would run at each other, shouting random battle cries. Ichigo was standing still, or so it seemed, but in reality she was shaking, dreading the announcer's next words. The boy she was fighting was twice her size, and he was smug. He was so big, and probably strong to match. How could Ichigo ever beat him? How could she?

Ichigo took a deep breath. She couldn't think like that. She had to trust the teaching of her sensei. She had to believe in herself and her training.

She took her stance as Yuri took his.

"FIGHT!"

Yuri rushed first, running full speed at Ichigo with kunai in hand.

Ichigo held her ground. She had her eyes closed, breathing calm, and waiting.

Yuri kept running.

3 feet away

2 feet

a foot

Yuri, feeling smug as ever thrusts his hand out, fully intending to stab the girl and end the test quickly. The blade quickly approached Ichigo's chest before it just…

…stopped.

Yuri strained, not really understanding why he couldn't move. Something was holding him back, but what? He looked down at Ichigo, her hands in an ox seal, then down at himself. Most of his body was trapped in an orb of water.

He started kicking wildly, his attention away from Ichigo and completely on getting out of the sphere.

Water slowly started to engulf his head, pouring into his mouth. The boy coughed and sputtered, but it was no use. Ichigo just held him, letting him drown in the prison until he stopped moving.

Releasing the hand seal, the boy fell on the dirt, and medics rushed to make sure he wasn't dead. Ichigo sighed. She knew he most likely wasn't, or at least wouldn't be.

"WINNER! Ichigo Ritoru!"

The area burst into applause as Ichigo made her exit. She smiled to herself, remembering something else Yanagi had told her.

"…_its's always life and death. So do what ever you have to life kid, even if that means playing dirty."_

_The young girl was now confused. She peered up at Yanagi, wishing she could see more of the woman's face then a blob of chakra._

"_Dirty?"_

_If possible the evil grin on Yanagi's face grew. _

"_As in you trick the poor bastard before he even knows what's coming!"_

BSBSBSBS

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

Ichigo laughed as all of her friends screamed out that one work and threw confetti on her. She, Sendo, and Yugito had already celebrated them all becoming chunnin already, but her friends from Konoha wanted to have their own party just for her.

One of the main reasons was that since the exam was no over, she would be leaving the next morning.

Even though this party was more of a spend-off party then anything, and very sad, Ichigo couldn't help but smile. She was surrounded by her most precious people, and that was more then she could have ever asked for.

And cake, there was cake too.

"You have to send us all postcards when you get there! I hear Cloud has beautiful views!" Rin exclaimed, hugging her friend dearly. "Don't worry, I wrote you down everyone's addresses." The girl handed Ichigo a small note book "And I'm sure your team wouldn't mind helping you write just one or two to everyone."

Ichigo smiled and hugged the book. "Thank you Rin, I'll make sure you get the prettiest."

With a squeal from the other girl, Ichigo was gathered up into a hug "Thank you! Oh I'll miss you so much! I won't have anyone to do girl things with!"

Ichigo laughed as she tried to escape the tight hold.

"Don't worry Rin. You'll make another girl friend soon."

"BUT ICHIGOOOOOO!" Rin shouted as she squeezed.

Fearing that she would run out of air, Minato showed up to pull Ichigo out of the death grip of the now crying Rin.

"Don't mind her squirt. Now here, I got you this." Reaching behind his back, Minato pulled one of his special kunai out from behind his back.

"Throw this, and I'll be right there, ok?"

The girl nodded. "Thank you Minato-sama."

The man just smiled before getting up to go talk to Yanagi.

Not knowing what else to do, Ichigo made up the excuse of going to her room to put the presents away.

Her room was already packed up, besides a few changes of cloths. Sadly she put her gifts into a bag.

"…Ichigo?"

Ichigo didn't even look up or turn. She knew who it was. The worst good bye. She had been dreading this moment.

"Yes Kakshi?"

More silence followed as the boy walked closer. Ichigo ignored the fact that he closed the door.

"I… I want to give you a present."

"Why didn't you down stairs?"

Warm hands gently took her wrists and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled slightly, but held her ground. She could feel Kakashi's eyes on her.

"Because," the word barely got out, he was nervous. Ichigo frowned, Kakshi was never nervous. "This is special. I don't want to share it."

"…Share what?"

Her answer was the sound of fabric sliding down, and soon after the feel of warm lips pressing against hers. A kiss, a kiss from Kakashi.

"…uh…that."

Ichigo was frozen, too shocked to know what to do. She had never been kissed before, least of all like that!

Kakashi's face fell. He could tell she didn't like it.

"Well then. I better go…"

Horrified, Ichigo screamed! "No! Wait!"

Doing the only thing she thought would help, she flung her arms around his neck an pulled kakashi close so she could kiss him back.

It was a little awkward, and she thanked god she managed to get his lips, but it was a kiss, and he melted into it.  
Kakashi felt his heart lift as he pulled her close once again, kissing back. He nearly whimpered when the kiss ended, but he was a shinobi, and he wouldn't show his weakness.

"I got a book on Braille, one for me, and one for you. I put it in your pack. Learn it fast so we can write."

"I promise."

The boy looked down so he could memorize her face. The beautiful burgundy of her hair, the strange milky grey color of her eyes, the cute orange marks on her cheeks. He kisses her carefully once last time before stepping out of her arms and pulling up his mask.

"…I love you Ichigo…don't forget that."

Dumbstruck, by the time she knew what to say to him, Kakashi was already gone. She did what she could only think she could do. She let go of her Shinobi pride, and cried.


End file.
